EU referendum: no means no

They really don't get it, these Eurocrats. I've just watched Margot WallstrÃ¶m, the Commission Vice-President, trying to explain away the results. It was important, she said, to work out what the Irish people had really been voting against.

Supporters of the 'No' vote celebrateÂ in Dublin

Let me help you there, Margot. My guess is that they were voting against the Lisbon Treaty. The giveaway was the ballot paper, which asked whether people agreed to amend the Irish constitution so as to, you know, approve the Lisbon Treaty.

Now I don't want to pick on Margot who, as I've mentioned before, I rather like. She's certainly improved since the days when she used to warn that "No" voters would trigger a second Holocaust. (Yup, she really said that: see here for the full quotation.) Having just come back from a joyful production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe to say nothing of picking up my winnings from Paddy Power I am in the mood to be generous.

But how much longer can Euro-Commissioners keep pretending that people have misunderstood the question? When the French voted "No", it was argued that they were really voting against Chirac. When the Dutch voted "No", it was claimed that they were really voting against Turkish accession. Do try and get it through your skulls, chaps, that people are voting against the proposition actually before them. They've had enough of "ever-closer union". They've had enough of directives and regulations. They've had enough of being pushed around.

And I'm sorry to have to say this, Margot they've had enough of you. They've had enough of the EU's politburo, with its lies and its arrogance, its corrupt expenses system, its disdain for democracy, its contempt for its own rules.

If you think my language is too harsh, watch what happens next. Already the various heads of government and Commissioners have announced that they will forge ahead without Ireland. My guess is that this was a strategy agreed upon beforehand, aimed at preparing the ground for a second referendum. Intent on following their script, they didn't notice either the high turnout (53 per cent) or the margin of victory (7 per cent). At some stage over the weekend, though, the numbers will sink in, and all talk of a second plebiscite will be dropped. The EU will then go back to simply implementing the constitution, and will tidy away any leftovers at a mini-IGC next year, this time with no more referendums.

But never again will they be able to claim a mandate. Ireland cast proxy ballots for 480 million Europeans. We should thank, in particular, the hero of the hour, Declan Ganley, who came to this struggle from nowhere, motivated by simple patriotism. I hope Declan will now form his followers into a list for the European elections in June. We could do with him in Brussels.